David John-Williams, the defeated CFU presidential candidate at yesterday’s 39th Congress of CFU at the Sheraton Hotel in Miami, USA, is being advised to fix his house first before attempting to build one in his neighbour’s yard.
The comment comes from local coaches Keith Look Loy and Angus Eve in the wake of John-Williams’ 18-12 loss to incumbent Gordon Derrick in the election race, inspite of the support the TTFA boss had received from FIFA president Gianni Infantino, UEFA and the CONCACAF.
John-Williams’ campaign was built on promises he made to the region that included a Caribbean Professional Football League, change in financial management that would lead to economic opportunities for regional territories and assistance from UEFA on coaching and refereeing among others.
Yesterday, however, both coaches described it as a lesson for the embattled TTFA president to fix local football first by doing what he promised in his manifesto.
According to Look Loy, while Derrick, who has been at the helm of regional football for many years and has done very little, he was still able to get the support of the Caribbean.
“I was not surprised by John-Williams’ defeat at all because he is a new face and it showed that his support from FIFA, UEFA and Concacaf was not enough, but I must say that Derrick’s presidency leaves a lot to be desired and he has a whole lot to do in regional football” Look Loy explained.
The Sports & Games Santa Rosa FC coach described it as ludicrous that John-Williams would seek election to the CFU, having done nothing to enhance local football.
Eve said John-Williams may have been affected by a number of blunders he made during his short stint in office to date, which includes the attempts to meet players on the national team against the will of the head coach, the alleged decision making actions without approval and consulting the TTFA board of directors, delay in dealing with issues of unpaid salaries to national coaches, failure to address a lack of subventions to regional associations and his decision to singlehandedly break-up the regional voting block during effort to support current FIFA president Infantino during the February FIFA elections.
Eve pointed out that: “All this and more may have painted a picture to regional territories that they prefer Derrick, despite what he has done, or not done so far, as oppose to John-Williams and what he is promising and the manner in which he wants to do it.”
He added: “I think John-Williams has done a great job with W Connection, but that is his club and he cannot afford to operate within the TTFA as he is doing there. There is a lot to be done to help local football and he cannot do it on his own, but rather he has to consult his members.”
The former Mucurapo and national stand-out told the Sunday Guardian that he was not sure if the choice of Derrick as president will make a difference in regional football, saying our region is in turmoil as is the entire football world and it seems that it is hard to get someone that you can trust to conduct the affairs of football in all the regions for football to benefit.